Legendary commentator Archie MacPherson: I had a good run but I'd return to commentary tomorrow

HE IS the voice of football, a bona fide broadcasting legend whose authoritative tones and commentary catchphrases have been silenced by the passage of time and the demise of a Scottish TV institution.

HE IS the voice of football, a bona fide broadcasting legend whose authoritative tones and commentary catchphrases have been silenced by the passage of time and the demise of a Scottish TV institution.

But Archie Macpherson says he hasn’t hung up his microphone and would step back into the gantry tomorrow if asked.

The 74-year-old, who has commentated at the top level in British sports broadcasting for 50 years, was last heard on the ill-fated final series of Scotsport, which was wound down in 2008.

Arguably Scotland’s most famous football commentator – only Arthur Montford could contest the crown – Archie features prominently in the penultimate episode of BBC Scotland’s fascinating series 60 Years of Television.

The hour long documentary, presented by Greg Hemphill, trawls sports archive footage from the last six decades, much of which was described with the rich vocabulary and instantly recognisable tones of the former teacher.

Yet he hasn’t commentated on a live football match since the demise of the world’s longest-running sports programme four years ago.

Archie said: “I’m still used as a studio guest for both the BBC and STV, but when Scotsport finished there was no alternative.

“The assumptions seemed to be once that programme was finished, so was I.

“That was the wrong assumption as far as I’m concerned.

“I have contented myself with the fact I’ve had a good long run at it, but if you’re asking me would I do a commentary tomorrow then of course I would.

“I was associated with the demise of Scotsport and that, in a way, fed into the feeling that I was finished.

“But commentating is still very much in my blood.

“There’s also this age thing in society.

“If you’ve been around for a bit, there’s a perception of a ‘burn out’ stage.

“That’s not the case with me, and I’m not suggesting I’m in the mode of (legendary Radio 2 jock) Jimmy Young who fought legal battles to keep his position.

“If people don’t want to use you, that’s entirely up to them.”

Archie may be in his 75th year, but his voice still has the distinct timbre familiar to generation after generation of Scottish football fan.

These days, aside from the revolving team of BBC Scotland sports journalists on the edited highlights packages of Sportscene, armchair supporters have their games explained by English tones – on ESPN and Sky Sports.

As you might expect, it’s not a state of affairs the Lanarkshire-based broadcaster and writer is happy with.

He said: “I don’t like it, but not for ethnic reasons. I just feel these stations should be putting the feelers out and putting a Scottish voice in there.”

Famed for his frequent recourse to his “whipped away” catchphrase and affectionately lampooned on Only An Excuse, where an occasional exclamation of “woaf!” became an annual stick-on, his advice to those following in his footsteps is “be spontaneous – always be yourself. Statistics are often the last refuge of the commentating scoundrel.”

That and being lucky with your lines, of course, as he was on many big occasions.

Those who can recall watching the Celtic versus Dundee United Scottish Cup Final of 1985 at Hampden Park may remember a classic Macphersonism.

As Celtic winger Davie Provan lined up a direct free kick 25 yards out from Hamish McAlpine’s goal, Archie delivered the following live broadcasting gem: “Only twice before in the history of the Scottish Cup, have goals been scored direct from a free kick.

“It IS!” crowed the Sportscene commentator, evidently every bit as pleased with himself as the goalscorer.

“That was luck,” he said, 27 years later. “Davie could have put that one half way up the terracing, but I instinctively knew he could do something from there.

“You sensed he was no mug and was capable of something special. As luck turned out, he put it in the back of the net.”

Provan, of course, is now a fixture in the commentary gantry as a match analyst on Sky Sports.

In Archie’s heyday, embellishments like these were reserved only for big games.

He said: “To a certain extent I resented the introduction of pundits.

“I wanted to represent my views without anyone beside me, but of course that was an egotistical sort of thing.

“It was soon accepted that two people should cover a game. I worked with some very good ones and some very poor ones .

“I don’t think the audience would accept a soloist any longer.”

Never afraid of saying what he thought, Archie admits his outspoken nature was part of the reason his status as the main commentator on BBC Scotland changed in the early 1990s.

He said: “I always tried to avoid being a supporter doing a commentary.

“At the 1990 Italy World Cup, Scotland wee being given the runaround by Costa Rica and I was being quite critical.

“I was given a message saying ‘could you be more encouraging’.

I made it clear that I couldn’t think of anything stupider, and muttered back in the ‘lazy’ microphone (the one used for talkback to producers, which doesn’t go out on air), ‘would you like me to sing Flower of Scotland?’

“That didn’t go down well.

“It was not the only reason I ended up parting company with the BBC around then, but it was one of the reasons.”

He has spent his time away from the microphone by writing a best-selling biography of Jock Stein.

“I still get money from that, despite writing it nine years ago,” he said. “I was very proud of that because it got rave reviews, and has been very important to me, because I know him so well.”

Nowadays, Archie is just as vocal about the goings on within Scottish football. In fact, he isn't afraid to voice his opinion on the current chaos surrounding Rangers.

He said: "You couldn’t make the Rangers thing up. If someone had got together a plot to bring them down they couldn’t have done it more effectively. It’s humiliating for them and for Scottish football.

"Morally it’s indefensible what both Sir David Murray, who has got off virtually Scott free in this mess, and Craig Whyte together have assembled for Rangers. It’s an utter disgrace."

And he took the opportunity to tell Celtic boss Neil Lennon to rise above what the Northern Irishman has deemed as "injustices" towards himself and the club as a whole.

MacPherson added: "Neil will have to cool it. It doesn’t matter if he feels there’s personal prejudice, it’s not going to do him any good to pursue it, he should try to lift himself above that."

He even defended the SFA, saying: "I can assure you there is no getting together of heads to do down an individual or a club. It may well be that there’s an innate thing there, to do with tradition or tribes or whatever, who can say?"

His autobiography is a similarly compelling read, and in 2010 he wrote Jimmy: Undefeated: The Life and Times of Jimmy Johnstone.

“The writing keeps me very busy, and I’m still appearing on various STV and BBC programmes,” said Archie.

“But I would be foolish to say I don’t miss it. Of course I do.”

Archie appears on Watching Ourselves: 60 years of Television in Scotland - This Sporting Life on Wednesday, BBC1 Scotland at 7.30pm.